Covington addresses hot button issues such as Brexit and the Trump presidency through the lenses of loss, illusion, and group identity and anxiety through which political leaders are predicted to mobilize constituents. She links these concepts specifically to Freud's predictions for the development of the ego. Ultimately, Covington argues that populist voters are best understood not as uneducated, but as people who have suffered a percieved loss to their identity, whether real or otherwise. She suggests the only way to counter these powerful illusions is through time and a renewed reliance of the fundementality of the rule of law.